


when i’m with you (things are looking better for once)

by steelhidingsilk



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:07:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28322853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steelhidingsilk/pseuds/steelhidingsilk
Summary: Secret Santa gift for @intuitivekendrick on tumblr!
Relationships: Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Comments: 11
Kudos: 48





	when i’m with you (things are looking better for once)

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Pitchmas!

Beca looks down at her workspace with tired eyes, half-heartedly fiddling with the equipment and taking off her headphones. She's been at work for the past five hours without a break, chasing the bout of inspiration she'd had this morning to its full extent. She's burnt out now though; nothing productive will come out of making herself work anymore at this point.

Producing a song or two is one thing, but producing a whole album for an up-and-coming artist is a new kind of challenge for her. One that she’s embraced and enjoying, but also one that absolutely drains her at times. Between coordinating with her clients and producing music that fits each one of them, she barely gets any time to work on her own music.

Stretching her limbs, she picks up her phone, lying dejected in the corner since noon. There’s nearly a hundred messages, mostly from the Bellas group chat and a handful from Chloe. It's not surprising – at times their group chat gets wildly active when everyone's got time and things to talk about. 

She read the chat as she walks home, thoroughly entertained by the plethora of messages sent by her friends. She learns they switched to a video call about twenty minutes back, and there’s a slew of text basically trying to summon her to join. She would have had to be more absorbed in her work than usual to miss the spam. It’s comical going through it – everyone sent different things to get her attention. 

(Amy just kept sending her name in caps, Aubrey sent one long message with her name typed out at least fifteen times, Stacie just sent random emojis and everyone else pretty much just spammed random nonsense. They must have realized she’s busy, because the messages stop, but they’re still on call.)

Changing into comfortable clothes, she relaxes into her couch before joining the call.  
“Look who's here!" Chloe exclaims, grinning like an idiot when she joins. Beca doesn’t think she’ll ever get used to seeing that 1000-watt smile aimed at her.  
"Beca!"

There's a chorus of greetings, all overlapping with each other as they all lament her late entry.

Sometimes their calls can go on for hours, but it doesn't really bother anyone. Scattered all across the country and not living together under the roof of a former sorority house anymore means that they’re reliant on these sessions to catch up. Everyone finding time to meet at once is nearly impossible.

"Hey nerds."  
“How nice of you to finally join us, Beca!” Aubrey comments, sarcasm dripping from her tone in a way reminiscent of Beca’s freshman year at Barden. She thinks the blonde’s the only one who can ever outmatch her sarcasm.  
She raises her middle finger to the woman politely, accompanied by the small laughter of the others. Aubrey rolls her eyes at that, her grin blossoming into a genuine one. Beca’s proud of the casual, close friendship the two fell into after her senior year at Barden.   
“Yeah, whatever. So, what’s everyone up to?”

They fall into a easy conversation, occasionally ribbing Beca about her “new, hotshot career”.

~

(It’s hours later when Beca puts down her phone, tired but not drained. She feels warm, the kind of warmth that comes with talking to old friends and being around comfortable people.  
Sometimes she doesn’t know what she’d do without the goofy acapella nerds she’d met years ago.)

~

It’s a slow day at the label. She’s been working on the same song since morning, her clients don’t have any inputs and she’s not satisfied with her progress so far. It’s her lunch break in a few minutes, anyway, so she decides to go for a walk and clear her head.

Her office is in the heart of LA’s concrete jungle, surrounded by similar corporate buildings and buzzing with people. Times like these make her miss Barden and the greenery it had. The lawns, trees and parks in and about the campus helped ground her at times, and it’s one of the biggest flaws of her newfound fame. She remembers the hours she spent mixing new songs for the Bellas sitting out on the quad, or under a tree. 

She makes her way to the small children’s park nearby, sitting on one of the empty benches. It’s a surprisingly pleasant, slightly windy and overcast day for the summer, and she can see more pedestrians than usual milling about.

She digs out her phone. Chloe hasn’t responded to the message she sent a few hours ago – she’s probably swamped today. Still, Beca sends her a photo of the city with the sky in view, simply captioning it “missing you” and checks her calendar to count the days till she can meet her. 

Her eyes widen when she sees the slew of meetings scheduled two weeks from now – a time she’d pointedly taken off, instructing Theo about keeping her blank for that entire week. Moreover, meetings that stretch well into the weekend. She refreshes the app, hoping it’s a glitch.

It’s not, and she’s off her bench and back in the studio in record time. Peaceful day be damned.

She finds Theo in the break room, standing by the coffee maker. He doesn’t hear her come in, and startles when she pokes him.

“Theo, why do I have meetings during the third week of August?” 

“They want you to meet a new artist. She’s just perfect for your style. This could be a big break for both of you.” He explains matter-of-factly. He doesn’t sound too shocked, probably expecting this at some point. 

“I specifically told you that I’m taking that week off.” It’s infuriating. It’s not like she takes any leaves often. She’s only missed a handful of days (days Chloe had convinced her to take off, or a long weekend when she’d visited Chloe). She’d been looking forward to her time off – she’d be seeing Chloe after nearly a month and the Bellas all together after almost six months.

“I know, but I can’t do anything about it. The board specifically wanted you on this. I tried to get them to postpone but they didn’t. I was going to tell you later today.” He gives her a sad smile and places her coffee mug on the counter. She watches as he pours the coffee from the pot, adds the tiny bit of cream and sugar she takes and stirs it. He hands her the mug.

Theo can be persuasive, and she knows that if even he couldn’t get her out of this, she doesn’t have much of a shot herself. As much as she’s grateful to be signed, she really hates the obligations she has.

She walks back to her workspace, writing an email to her superiors. It’s a lost cause, but it won’t kill her to try. She’s always yielded good results for the label, and she makes sure to stress the importance of her leave before sending it.

She calls Stacie a few hours later, stiffly sat on the couch in her apartment, dreading the phone call. It’s always draining to do things like this. She didn’t receive any reply to her mail – she’s lucky if it was even read. 

She explains everything to the other brunette on the line, who listens patiently.

"You're missing Bella's birthday party?"

"Most probably. I'm really sorry, Stace, I want to be there but..."

"No, I get it. It's just that we haven't seen you in so long and everyone's going to be there." She can hear the disappointment in Stacie’s voice, and it only makes her feel worse. She’s been wanting to meet Bella for a while as she’d promised, and it only makes it hurt more. 

"The label slapped me with a new artist last minute and they’re not budging. I’ll, um, let you know if anything changes.”

“Okay, goodnight. Take care, Beca.” Stacie doesn't argue with her, just simply accepts it.

“You too.”

She shuts her eyes, trying to curb her sadness. It’s like a sock to her face – something she’d been looking forward to for months suddenly taken away. 

She checks her mail once again, in a last attempt, and she can feel her heart beating in her ears as she clicks on the reply she’d gotten while on the phone with Stacie.  
She doesn’t get any leaves, but her meetings for the weekend are postponed. It’s a relief; she can meet everyone and Bella as well – but also a different kind of disappointment. Her week with Chloe is cut short to two nights.

She calls the redhead, staring at her ceiling as she waits for her to pick up.

“Hey. Heard you’re not going to be coming to Bella’s birthday.” Chloe says in lieu of a greeting. She can tell she’s slightly pissed for not calling her earlier, and for hearing the bad news from Stacie and not herself. 

“Yeah, about that. They cancelled my week off.” 

“Oh.” Chloe doesn’t meet her eyes, only averts them to something beside her phone. Beca can tell she’s making a conscious effort not to cry, and it makes her feel even worse. They’d both been looking forward to meeting each other, and moreover, spending an entire week together without work or any other interruptions. 

“They agreed to move my weekend meetings so I can come for Bella's party, but I can only stay for two days.”

“So you’re coming?” Chloe’s face immediately jerks towards the camera, and she finally meets Beca’s eyes.

“Yes, but only for the weekend.”

“I guess it’s better than nothing.”

“I’m sorry, Chlo, I really am.”

“It’s okay. I get it.”

They stay silent for a while, Chloe willing herself not to cry and Beca helplessly trying to come up with something to make her feel better.

“I’m taking the week after that off.”

“Yeah well, I don’t have any leaves then. They already got someone to cover for me,” Chloe nearly snaps. “I’m sorry,” she adds a beat later.

“No, it’s okay. _I’m_ sorry. I love you.”

“I love you too.” She looks away as she says it. Her voice wavers when she says, “ I need to, um, go. Goodnight.”

Chloe clearly wants space – she never cuts their calls so short. Beca doesn’t fault Chloe on it, understanding that the redhead needs time to process it. Sleeping on it sounds like the best thing to do to Beca too. She just feels so helpless and guilty, and if there’s one thing she hates more than this it’s making Chloe sad and disappointed.  
“Night.”

The lines goes silent, and Beca continues to stare at her ceiling.

~

(In the morning, after a stressful sleep, she wakes up to a message from Chloe simply reading " _can’t wait to see you. love you._ " She smiles softly, still feeling guilty, but already coming up with new dates to surprise the redhead.)

~

“Hey."

"You look like shit."

Beca only narrows her eyes at Chloe, into an expression Chloe has affectionately dubbed Beca’s grumpy cat face. It’s a cross between how she looks when she’s woken up before 8 in the morning on a holiday and her resting bitch face. 

"Thanks. You look lovely too."

Chloe's still in her vet scrubs, hair up in a bun as she pads across her apartment. It’s kind of cute how Chloe called her the second she got home. It’s been a few days since Beca informed her about her change of plans, and while things were slightly tense for a while she’s glad to see they’re back to normal.

"You know what I mean. You just look really tired."

"I am. Everything's just...so much." She watches as the redhead shrugs off her scrubs and loosens her hair, copper curls tumbling over her shoulder. Chloe turns back to her, soft blue eyes locking onto her own and she feels much better already. 

“Hard day?”

“Hard month.”

They stay silent for a while, Chloe washing her hands and fixing herself a sandwich while Beca simply braces her head against her hand against the table and watches. It’s not uncommon for them to fall into a comfortable silence, just silently observing each other go about their tasks. On weekends they spend without each other Beca usually props up her phone against her desk while she works and Chloe studies or reads. 

“Wanna talk about it?” Chloe prompts after a few minutes.

“Not really. I just wish you were here. I miss you." Beca says quietly, head nestled against her arm.

Chloe looks up from slicing a fruit and gives her a soft smile, leaning down to get closer to her screen. "Me too, baby. But two more weeks and I'll be all yours."

"I hate that. Why can't it be tomorrow or something?" 

Chloe resumes her chopping, replying without looking up. “Because you and I both have work.” 

Beca rolls her eyes at the obvious answer and walks to her fridge to get a beer.

“So, smartass, what did you do today? Save a horse?” 

“No, I spent half my morning trying to give a kitten her shots. She kept jumping away and hissing at me. And when I’d finally finished she wouldn’t stop licking me. Reminded me of you, actually.”

Beca pauses mid sip, playfully glaring at the other woman.

“Look, she even scratched me here.” Chloe tilts her head to expose her neck and the tiny but prominent kitty scratch marks adorning it. Beca makes a conscious effort to stop herself from running her eyes over the contours of her neck and derailing her mind somewhere else entirely.

“A little to the side and I’d definitely say she was you.”

At that, Beca does choke on her beer, taking a solid minute to calm down from the coughing fit. She can feel the heat rushing to her face and knows she’s blushing madly. Damn Chloe and her ability to casually flirt anytime.

Meanwhile, Chloe just sends a smirk her way, knowing exactly what she’s done. It’s unfair how much she teases her and how easily she does it. Beca makes a mental note to send an extra salacious selfie tomorrow in the morning to get her back. 

They continue talking about everything and nothing, continuing well into the night until Chloe’s almost on the verge of passing out.

“Go to sleep, you dork.” Beca says when Chloe muffles her fifth yawn, grinning at Beca as she rolls over in her bed.

"Love you."

"Love you too. Goodnight."

Beca stares at her screen for a while, eyes fixated on her phone’s wallpaper. It’s a photo of her and Chloe together, leaning into each other half drunk when they’d visited a bar a few months back. 

She’d never imagined falling into such an easy relationship back in college – it just seemed so impossible and unnatural for her. But right now, as she lays here, head buzzing with thoughts of a certain redhead, she thinks she couldn’t have been more wrong.

(She falls asleep thinking about Chloe, and when she wakes up the next morning to a half-asleep selfie sent by Chloe, it’s instantly easier to face the day. )


End file.
